MNHQ here: what do you think about manufacturers marketing wipes as 'flushable'?

Always amazed that so many people don't know about this, but I think it makes a difference when you have travelled to countries with really dicky plumbing. In much of the world you can't even flush regular toilet paper, let alone sturdy wipes. You have to put your regular paper in a box by the loo. It would never occur to me to flush anything thicker than toilet paper.

Yes, a campaign is a good idea. Why should everyone be stuck with higher utilities bills fixing all these problems? Not to mention public toilets being out of action, which causes problems for other women especially in the form of longer queues.

Thanks JJJ. Interesting.

The 'flushability' tests look real easy, cheap and low tech. The sort of thing that anyone reading could do if they're having doubts?

scmidt that's exactly the link I was going to look for. Thank you!

Drawing LL and lots of others have changed the name of their liner to "disposable".

Right... I'm going to have to talk to DH about "family cloth". I don't know if I like the idea of not myself which is stupid since I am a huge cloth nappy fan.

Otherwise, I fully support MN in the campaign.

MNHQ you might be interested in this:

nappysciencegang.wordpress.com/flushable/shake-it/

This group has been running experiments to verify some of the claims in the cloth nappy community. Flushability of nappy liners being one of them. None of the nappy liners have broken down in the experiments so far.

The group also had a chat with Emma McColm from LOVEMyBEACH, who talked about why keeping the sewers clear of wipes is important from a greater environment prospective:

nappysciencegang.wordpress.com/2015/11/13/live-chat-with-emma-from-lovemybeach/

And then there are videos on YouTube of flushability experiments similar to what NSG members were doing, but with machines and under more controlled conditions:

There doesn't seem to be any evidence that flushable wipes are safe for drains. Considering a normal user (like me) would expect them to disintegrate in the sewer system, rather than create clogs.

A cautionary tale, Ready. Has work taken a stance on disposal by staff, including wipes?

If you had had to call officialdom, they might well have just decided it wasn't worth the candle and had the ground up to replace the whole sewer. Either way, Yes - the bill would have been horrible.

It was very lucky that we had rods Cozietoesie. It took all day to unblock the drains as it was so solidly packed in, it would have cost a fortune if we had had to call someone out.

At work we've pulled all manner of things out of drains, but wipes are one of the most common. It just takes one of them to snag in a pipe for a build up to start and then soon you're in trouble.

You were lucky that your Dad had rods, Green. And that the blockage wasn't so impacted that it needed something like pickaxes to tackle it.

A surprisingly large number of posters have reported sewage blockages etc which affected them, recently. I wonder how widespread that is?

I also agree that the wipes shouldn't be labelled as flushable. We had a horribly blocked drain which was solely due to Kandoo wipes, which the packet said were flushable. The wipes had caught on the corners of the drains and then all stuck together, causing the drains to block.

As you can imagine, it was really not very nice! We managed to unblock it ourselves thanks to my dad having drain rods, but there was over 30m of blocked drain to unblock with 3 drain covers all blocked, and we had blocked our neighbours drain as well. There were quite a few bin bags of just wipes, they obviously hadn't been flushing for a long while as we only used 1 or 2 a day.

After that I have never bought wipes again, toilet roll works just as well.

Thanks Cosie. I will definitely spread the word. I've been telling people not to drain fat down the sink for years!

I seem to recall a statistic (quoted in some article) that their use has been going up by 15% a year recently? I'll stand to be corrected on that one but if approximately true, that's a big burden going into our sewers.

There needs to be a massive educational drive to stop people flushing all sorts of things. The amount of places you see notices telling people not to flush blue paper towels/ sanitary items/ wipes etc is ridiculous.

Companies should not be allowed to market/label items as flushable when they can cause blockages in the sewer system and they should be charged for the problems they cause if they continue to do so.

You were misled, Magrats, as have been many many others.

Don't feel sick. Just spread the word.

Yes, I would also be happy to support such a campaign.

I don't flush baby wipes, they go in the bin with the soiled nappies, and certainly not sanitary protection. However, I have been using these toilet wipes for a while and the packet says flushable. I'm now beginning to doubt it...

I'm starting to feel sick at the possibility that I've caused a sewage horror for a neighbour. We're halfway up a steep hill our sewage pipe from the house goes out to the street. From there it'll go down the hill. One of The people at the bottom MUST have a main sewage pipe going through their garden or access near their house.

I binned all my 'flushable' wipes yesterday after this thread but we've been using them a few months

It isn't 'Misleading' It's an outright LIE.

They shouldn't be flushed, full stop

This video of a giant fatberg made of wipes and cooking fat in SW London should convert even the most hardened wipe user:

Thanks, Raising. I forgot that there are posters who don't click.

I'm putting cozietosie's epic image on the thread in case you don't click! it was here

Ha, mrsnutella! Didn't rtft. Good to know they changed the description. Was it LL viscose?

Great idea for a campaign! It's bugged me, too. I used soft "flushable" liners for LO's cloth nappies because of sensitive skin. I was very suspicious of the "flushable" claim because they seemed very thick and sturdy. Turns out they lasted about 6 - 8 long cycles at high temperature in the washing machine! I reused them and made sure never to put them down the toilet.

mrsnutella

wet wipes blockage

I posted the link to an Australian story earlier in the thread but I think it bears repeating. It's worth noting, I think, that a good third of the obstruction had to be removed by workers using buckets.

I'll have to post the link in a next post. My device is in a mood. 😀